Barefoot Investor makes startling revelation over fears Australia will go cashless

Barefoot Investor Scott Pape has claimed Australia will not become a cashless society while making a startling revelation that using notes could soon incur a fee.

Mr Pape made the startling revelation in response to concerns about Australia slowly ditching coins and banknotes in favour of electronic payments.

Reader Lynn had written in to the finance guru for his opinion on the matter, saying she was worried the country would become a cashless society.

'I've heard some talk lately around the removal of coins and then notes from the Australian monetary system,' she wrote. 

She claimed trucking giant Linfox, the federal government, and the banks are considering turning coins into bank notes.  

'The discussion between Linfox, the government and the banks all revolves around how expensive it is to 'move' coins around the country for regional post offices, banks, corner shops, etc.' 

She claimed the move would reduce the weight of the currency that is being transported by the heavily armed vehicles. 

Lynn went on to add that the switch would be 'scary' as it would allow the Australian Taxation Office to track cash payments more easily. 

Mr Pape agreed that the cost of transporting cash is huge but said Australia will not go completely cashless. 

'I don't think so, as much as the ATO would love it,' he responded in a column for The Daily Telegraph. 

He argued that paying by cash should attract an extra fee as it is not often used as a method of payment. 

'It's always puzzled me why paying for something with cash doesn't have a surcharge like cards do,' he said.

'After all, there’s a huge cost to taking cash: think of the shopkeepers who have to walk to a bank holding more money than a homie in a rap video. 

'Or Armaguard, who have two pistol-packing blokes driving around in an armoured tank.'

Mr Pape added that he doesn't think coins and bank notes will be removed permanently.

He provided an example of countries like Norway, which are introducing laws that will give citizens the right to use cash to make payments. 

The government of the Scandinavian nation introduced a proposal to change the Financial Contracts Act to allow people to use cash during transactions.

The move to change the legislation came after card terminals across Norway crashed on May 17, 2022. 

Norway is the only country ahead of Australia that uses cash the least to make payments, with just three per cent of Norwegians using bank notes. 

A customer trends report released in 2023 by the ABA found that Aussies are the top users of cashless payments with almost 99 per cent of customers conducting their bank transactions by online means.

Cash now forms just 13 per cent of all total customer payments in Australia.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Linfox for comment.